"Josie? You ready?" Veronica asked, carrying her purse and her coffee cup. "I need to be there by six." She said.
Josie got up out of bed and gathered her backpack. "Yeah! Give me a few minutes!" She said as she set her feeds and unhooked from them, getting them ready for later.
She grabbed her jacket and put it on over her long sleeved shirt, tying her hair back and wiping her arms down with lotion. "I need to find my glasses." She kept looking, only to find out they were on her face. Dumbass, Carter grunted. They were right there on you.
Josie's sighed. I'm not in the mood to fight with you about this. Shut up and go somewhere else in the headspace.
Once Josie and Veronica were ready, they went to the car and got inside. Josie watched out the window as Veronica drove them to the grocery store.
Josie got out and grabbed her hair and moved it out of the way. She grabbed her backpack and put it on. "I need to use the bathroom when we get inside." She said.
Veronica nodded. "Alright. I'll get a basket, you find the bathroom." She said as she walked inside and got a basket.
Josie looked everywhere for the bathroom, finding it in the back of the store. Figures. She went inside and closed a stall behind her, hanging the backpack on the hook. She pulled her pants down and went to empty her bladder. Once she finished, she flushed and go out of the stall, washing her hands and drying them quickly.
Veronica began putting items in the basket like fruits and vegetables, onions and tomatoes, and roast beef to make her special recipe of stew. She was really good at making it. She gathered some strawberries and bananas, oranges and peaches, and some apricots too. She loved to make herself smoothies. She was grateful Elaine let her use her card to buy them groceries.
Josie found Veronica in the fruits and vegetables isle and smiled. "I found it and I'm all good. Umm, so do you have to buy a smoothie maker or something for the fruits.... I just wondered because of all the fruits and vegetables in the basket.
Veronica looked at her. "Yeah, I make a really good smoothie. I add both fruits and vegetables to make it balanced and taste a lot better. Maybe you can put it in the tube?" She questioned as she seemed confused.
Josie smiled. "Maybe. I'd have to ask what I can do for it." Do not do it. I swear if you do it, you're going to get sick. One of her alters murmured. She growled slightly. "Good idea." She said as she glanced at her.
Veronica noticed Josie was quiet. "Are you alright?"
Josie couldn't help but stare at her hair. It was so good. It flowed almost perfectly. It was completely beautiful. It was perfect. "Yeah, I really like your hair." She said with a smile.
Veronica closed her eyes slightly before feeling her hair. "Oh? I never really noticed it........ what, suddenly I'm blind." She said, feeling it and seeing nothing but blurriness, her other contact came out that moment suddenly and she didn't know. It came out when she was closing her eyes and it got stuck to her eyelid and came out, a piece still on her eyes. "They hurts really bad."
Josie looked into her eyes and glanced at the contact. She grabbed it easily. "Oh. That wasn't so hard. "That's interesting. I've never seen one come out." She smirked and looked at it as she showed it to Veronica.
"Oh... that's interesting for sure. Why is it that everything bad happens to me?" She mumbled.
Josie sighed. "oh, that sucks. Well, anyways, the bathroom smelled awful," she said. She heaved. She looked at Veronica. "We need to do something now." she said to herself. She looked at Josie before going to get a candle for josir. She knew it would help her feel better.
Veronica noticed the girl's face turned pale, she frowned, looking at her. She then grabbed onto her while the girl passed out. She watched Josie's body completely give up, passed out and hit her head. She gently sit her down and put her on her side. "Elaine! Mizuki! I need some help!" She cried out.
Elaine rushed to the room. "What happened? What's wrong?" She looked down and saw josie passed out. "She'll be okay. Give her a few minutes. She'll be tired afterwards. Roll her on her side." She said as she helped roll Josie on her side.
Mizuki ran in and looked at the events going on. "Is she going to be okay?" She asked the two.
"Yeah, this happens sometimes." Elaine said as she kneeled down and gently rubbed Josie's back and shoulders to keep her stimulated to wake up.
Josie groaned after a few minutes. "My... head." She said quietly and weakly.
Elaine helped her sit up while Veronica and mizuki watched.
Elaine helped her up to her bed and laid her down. "You're going to be okay." She said as she ran a hand through her hair. "I know it.
—
It was nine-fifty two in the morning when I woke up, not remembering anything about last night. I was exhausted and my head still hurt and I really wanted to sleep still, but she had to hook up her feeds and take a shower. She had a doctors appointment that afternoon. Although she didn't want to go anywhere, she had to.
Josie got up and hooked up to her feed, pretty self explanatory.
Elaine sighed. "Well, I have to pick up Jaimie from school, I'll be back later." She said as she stepped out of the room and headed to the car.
Josie sighed and got up, beginning to open her computer to search for her class to work on homework. Once she got it opened and started working on it, spending an hour on her writing homework and an hour on math homework.
—
When the car pulled into the driveway, she knew Mizuki was home with groceries. Veronica was asleep and Elaine and Jaimie walked into the door. "Hey, we're home." Elaine had said in a normal tone of voice. Jaimie weaned up to their room, seeming in a bad mood.
Elaine walked into her room, "how are you feeling? I check in before I left and you were resting so I'm not sure if you heard what I said, but I love you Josie. Nothing will ever change that for me. You're my adopted daughter even though I'm your aunt, I'm also a mom and couldn't change a thing about it." She sniffled as she hugged her daughter tightly. "You're going to be okay. These doctors know what they're going so you're not alone."
Josie nodded and laid back to try and take a few breaths so she wouldn't cry. "I love you Mom Elaine, I guess that's what I should add as a nickname." She chuckled and continued. "I don't think I'd be able to live without you."
Elaine sat down at the side of her bed and held her hand. "Me too, Josie. I don't know where you get your strength and bravery, but it's honestly from your birth mother." She smiled at her. "I never understood how brave you were until the surgery for your feeding tube. It sucks to have but chronic and mental illness but I hope your stomach will start getting better after time because I know how much you miss real food."
Josie smiled and kissed her cheek. "I love you too. I also can't wait to see if they could get rid of the tubes someday, I'm just glad my central line, my PICC is gone. I needed it for a little while but I'm glad it's gone because I hated showers when I had to wrap it up with Saran Wrap. It took too much time and I was always scared for it to get wert. It was scary having it since it was so close to my heart." They removed the PICC the last day she was in the hospital. She now ran fluids in her tube which makes life so much easier for them.
Elaine agreed. "I'm glad the infection risk problem is gone because it was hard seeing it all happen. Especially when you went septic. I don't remember what day it was but it was so traumatic for me and it scared me. I thought I was going to lose you." Elaine said.
Josie sighed, "don't worry, that's why the line was taken out." Josie was out of her regular formula so she used a new one her doctor had sent her, but she didn't know it had soy in it to provide protein. She had an allergic reaction, spots of hives covering her skin, itchiness hitting her hard and trying to scratch. She starts coughing and couldn't breathe so suddenly Elaine ran to the bathroom and grabbed an epi pen and she ministered it into her thigh. She watched as her doctor began to breathe again but her body went limp and exhausted.
Wow. Everything kept changing around for her and she really didn't like it. She was tired and didn't want to move, but only sleep. She closed her eyes and try to get some sleep. She knew what she needed to do. After the epi, the reaction didn't go away, Elaine called the paramedics when Josie stopped breathing.
Elaine grabbed the phone and began to call the operator and explaining the situation, trying to breathe and relax some. It didn't get better until they received more Benadryl and gave her fluids hooked up when the paramedics arrived. Josie was in and out to consciousness. The nurses were having a hard time keeping her stats up. When Josie was waking up, she was groggy from all of the Benadryl and solumedrol.